A Betrayal of Storms

Realm of Fey, Book 1

By: Ben Alderson

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Wychwood–the realm of the fey–prepares for war against the humans who hate, hunt and kill them for coin.

Aided by the unclaimed, destructive power of the murdered and forgotten Winter Court, they ready their numbers for complete domination of the human realm.

Until Robin Vale reveals himself to be the last Icethorn heir: a hope for the humans he has grown up amongst, but to the detriment of many who would see him dead before ruining their years of preparation.

Robin finds allies during his discovery of a realm he has long since feared: Erix, a fey warrior who aids as a distraction during the long nights, and Althea, a stern princess hellbent on stopping the human hunters from killing her kind.

Thrust into a world of betrayal, murder and lies, he must survive long enough to make the choice: listen to fate and claim his family's power, or let it wreak havoc on a realm that turned its back on him for becoming who he was truly meant to be.

A dark evil is brewing, monsters have returned, and the scales of power are being forced by a hand who longs for revenge.

©2022 Ben Alderson (P)2022 Podium Audio

Happy to find a new author

I was out of audiobooks from my favorite authors. Tried a few new ones that didn't measure up with the world building and plot. I tried this one figured that at least Joel Leslie should be good...and was happily surprised at how much I enjoyed this story. now I have a new favorite author to ads to my list.

Fun, Familiar, with the right amount of Fire

Main impression: just an outright entertaining audiobook. The plot did not take too many twists and turns and had a nice enough flow for easy listening, but also had enough action and flavor to make it stand out in its genre. Most characters were pretty standard fantasy types, not too much pizazz, but they still carried the story wonderfully. The magic system and world building was really clear, and the villainy was of a classic sort with a hint of unpredictability. It had the right amount of adversity, bloodshed and heartache to be palatable to someone like me who can't always handle blast your sanity tragedy all the time.

The romance was my favorite type: two mild tsundere types building a bond through adversity. It was like a familiar cup of slowly simmering cocoa. And the spicy scenes were so perfect! Just the right amount of seasoning peppered throughout. Definitely a delight for adults--I actually had to take a moment to cool off after the first love scene. Oof!

The narrator is irrefutably top shelf talent. I had previously listened to a non-romantic fantasy audiobook with this narrator with lots of querky characters and it was a blast. I was doubtful of the narrator's voice in a romance scene though, since it is more of what you imagine in a comically engaging DND campaign, but major props. This guy blew me away with the performance every bit of the way.

Why the heck would this have negative reviews??

This was great!! Really immersive world building, and I loved getting to know the characters. The narrator, as usual, is immaculate. Can’t wait to hop on the next installment.

Fabulous start!!!

Got me downloading book two before old dude says: “audible hopes you’ve enjoyed this program”!

Action, story, and love

Everything you could want from a novel. Exceptionally well written, the action ‘scenes’ well scripted to the point where they come alive. The relationships realistic demonstrating the confusion of love and other emotions, and well the story. The plot was amazing and always left you wanting to return for more. On to book 2!

Ignore the negative review!!!

I put off listening to this book for way too long after reading that super negative review and now I'm pissed I did! I listen to a LOT of books, like between 4-6 per week, and I get pickier the more I listen to. This book was actually really good and I got really into it!

There were none of my pet peeves- no insta-lust, no excessive internal dialogue to create drama and prop up a ridiculous plot. I definitely recommend this book and suggest you ignore the other review saying the narrator couldn't save the book! And that's coming from a super picky reader/ listener!

the narration killed it for me

this book is exactly what I want. Queer action fantasy with romance is right up my alley, but the narrator has the most ridiculous accent for the elves and it's literally the only reason I'm not continuing the series here on audible. I'll be buying the books myself so I can finish. I know the narrator is just doing his job and I feel bad but his choice in direction killed it for me

Just wow!

What an amazing start to a storyline. Can’t wait to see what happens next for the winter court.

Surprising

At first I was thrown by the narrator's voice, not the accent really, but the inflections(?) that seemed to accompany almost all of the sentences. It seemed like he was trying too hard to pump emotion into every word, even when it wasn't really warranted. However, I acclimated after an hour or so of listening and enjoyed the story for the content, even coming to enjoy Leslie's narrative style at times.

I didn't realize there would be actively described sex scenes, but I think Alderson did a good job of weaving them in without detracting from the rest of the story. It did NOT read like a smutt story from your favorite porn site, lol. I'm currently debating on going to the next book in the series, but I think whether I do it soon or not, I will return to this series at some point.

Thank you Mr. Alderson for writing a fantasy story with queer characters, even if some are not exactly model citizens. 😅 This has been my first real dip into the queer representation side of fiction books, and it's definitely left me with a desire for more. 💚

Loved it

I really enjoyed this story. It has several common fantasy tropes but also has some interesting twists and turns. I was genuinely surprised by some of the characters.